Classic cars, vintage aircraft and a California Highway Patrol booth are all at Nut Tree Airport as CHP Solano sets up shop at the Rowland Freedom Center's annual Planes, Trains & Automobiles car show. The event runs Saturday and Sunday, October 3–4, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and troopers are using the crowd as a chance to talk road safety, bicycle safety and, notably, what it looks like to drive impaired.
A Family Show With a Safety Pitch
The Rowland Freedom Center hosts the annual car show at Nut Tree Airport in Vacaville, and this year's edition celebrates the USA's 250th anniversary, according to a CHP - Solano Facebook post. The show features classic cars, vintage aircraft and community exhibits, per the same post, giving Solano County families a full weekend of things to look at before they even reach the CHP tent.
The car show is hosted by a museum with a broader educational mission: the Rowland Freedom Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on preserving military history and educating future generations about those who serve. The center’s educational mission focuses on military history.
CHP Solano is operating an outreach booth at the show, and the agency is inviting families to stop by and connect with local highway patrol officers. The booth is providing traffic, seatbelt and bicycle-safety information aimed at attendees of all ages, the post notes, alongside safety resources about impaired driving and designated drivers.
Impairment Goggles Simulate the Effects of Drinking and Drugs
One of the more hands-on offerings at the booth involves impairment goggles used during mock field sobriety tests. The goggles are designed to demonstrate how alcohol or drugs affect a person's coordination and reaction times, giving visitors a firsthand sense of what officers are watching for during real roadside stops.
The demonstration comes amid a persistent nationwide toll: 12,429 people were killed in alcohol-impaired crashes in 2023, an average of one death every 42 minutes. California’s DUI rules also cover drugs: the DMV says it is illegal to drive while impaired by any drug, including prescription and over-the-counter medication. For most drivers 21 and older, a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher is illegal, but drivers can face DUI charges below that level if impaired.
The booth is also doubling as a recruitment stop, offering career information about job opportunities, lateral incentives and what it takes to become a highway patrol officer. Separate, lower-confidence listings on the department's recruitment site reference a high-school diploma or equivalent and federal work authorization among baseline requirements, though the complete salary and application details for the position were not laid out in that material.
For Solano County residents looking for a low-key weekend outing, the car show offers an easy excuse to see old cars and aircraft while getting a face-to-face look at local highway patrol officers. The CHP booth will be running both days of the show, which features classic cars and vintage planes at Nut Tree Airport.
